After hosting three interns over three years, it still strikes me how I can relate to the inexperience that they have. Being in the industry for more than twenty years has made me blind to what these young folks see when they get into the workplace for the first time. By the way, our interns are paid.
I guess I keep looking back at my experience at that age and thinking it’d be the same with them. By the time I had gotten a job while at University, I was already pretty comfortable with computers, and was familiar with networking concepts. When I get a new intern, I automatically feel as though they should know the same thing that I knew at that age.
So when I get someone who is super green and has zero experience, I am always taken aback, even though I should not be. I mean, to begin with, this is one of the reasons that they join the internship programme.
I find it frustrating. But I still try to help as much as I could. It’s up to the intern to make the most out of it. I see interns who want to be told what to do, and others who will try until they figure things out. You can pretty much tell who is going to be more successful in the future.
I don’t think I could ever relate to their level of inexperience, but I could at least try to help them gain experience.
Mentor someone today.